huss9

the other thing that worries me is that the refs at this level will go looking for him just to make a name for themselves

we really needed him at the end of last season. along with shearer coming in, barton's return was almost like one last big push to stay up. however unfortunate he was to get that red at anfield, he shouldnt have put himself in that position. still some faith in him to come good for us at this level - smith and nolan have ( admittedly not lately though), and joey's better than them.

no, the others just get worse

McSheffrey on loan from birmingham? only seen him a couple of times but seemed decent championshipd standard forward

hughton has fallen for the old school thinking that a defensive midfielder is essential. he'll always play butt or smith. the likes of venison, rob lee, bracewell, speed and even batty were so much more yet could still help out at the back when required.

basically with half our first choice defence missing, Hughton has to approach the match with an all-guns-blazing approach. we need to make sure we score enough goals so that the odd defensive lapse is rendered irrelevant. really needs do drum it into our midfielders. ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK!!!!!

benitez' transfer dealings have been abysmal other than a couple of no-risk ones like Torres. he's sold players eg crouch and bellamy that he should have kept and bought in some dross. can't blame the board.

khiz back in on loan? safer at RB than he was at CB.

we havent lost to WBA either in the league, and with a stronger ref and some luck we could have had all 3 points on monday night.

RIP

i hate the motty chuckles after a shit joke as well.

Barry Davies - brilliant. knowledgable but without being crap and patronising like Motson who for some reason always was rated higher than him. quite like peter brackley - did he do the fifa, or was he pro evolution?

we need to be realistic. promotion is not even remotely guaranteed. we need to focus on getting up and then worry about the premiership.

deja vu

those quotes from the billy davies suggest that they want us to up the bid. why else would they bring "derisory" into the equation. if they didnt want to sell him, just should have said that. dont know how good perch is though.

Who would you play right back though if Simpson leaves? yeah, as posted in anither thread we are very limited until we get in a decent RB. even khish coming back as long as he doesnt play centre back. or use kadar/but new centre half and use staylor at right back. thats our only options other than guthrie if we dont but a new RW or RB

or even get in a centre half (or kadar) and play staylor rt back and rtaylor rw to free up guthrie

you can't play guthrie centre if taylor is rt back. so a RB this jan is a must. if can't find a decent one then would even settle for Khish to come back (as long as we keep him away from centre half) if simpson falls through (though he was awful last night)

i think we have been lucky with injuries in as far as we havent had a few players injured at any one together for any length of time. our back 4 have each played at least 20 matches each and most of the outfield players havent missed too many either. i think i'm just comparing to previous seasons when we've had real problems. this season though i dont think we would be able to cope as every position short other than the strikers picks it self with little or no back up available.

also what is it with refs in this league trying to show that they wont be intimidated at SJP and give the home decisions - pathetic!

am feeling more positive this morning but we have been really lucky with injuries and our best players will start to tire and pick up niggles as a result. GET SOME PLAYERS IN, ASHLEY - IT'S YOUR MONEY THAT GOES DOWN THE PAN IF WE DON'T GET PROMOTED!!!!!!

the lack of a right back and right winger could really stop us getting promoted as it means rtaylor at right back and guthrie rw - leaving smith and nolan ineffective in the middle. an injury to either guthrie or raylor and we're fooked. at least if barton is fit we'll have some legs in midfield - not a fan of his but he can at least move - our central midfield was abysmal last night.

should be made captain next season

would have felt alot more confident with the pace of Lovenkrands

i feel the real reason we havent signed beckford is the fa cup match at ole trafford. turned everything on its head and leeds started getting arsey/cockey. do feel they had a replacement lined up but got greedy thinking clubs would line up to pay £2m+. when that didnt happen ken bates' pride took over and he didnt want to seem weak and accept the original 1.5m